Fastball

Atlanta Braves Veteran Pitcher Becomes Just 89th Member of This Historic Club

The Atlanta Braves beat the San Francisco Giants for the second consecutive night as veteran right-hander Charlie Morton made some awesome baseball history.

Brady Farkas

Atlanta Braves pitcher Charlie Morton (50) throws a pitch against the San Francisco Giants during the first inning at Oracle Park on Aug 13.
Atlanta Braves pitcher Charlie Morton (50) throws a pitch against the San Francisco Giants during the first inning at Oracle Park on Aug 13. / Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports
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The Atlanta Braves beat the San Francisco Giants for the second consecutive night on Tuesday, winning 4-3 in 10-innings.

The wins have been critical for Atlanta, who is now 63-56 on the year and holding on tenuously to the third and final wild card spot in the National League. They lead the New York Mets by 2.0 games.

Though he didn't factor into the decision, Braves' righty Charlie Morton was outstanding in the game. The 40-year-old veteran went 6.0 innings, allowing just two runs on six hits. He walked one and struck out eight, making some history in the process.

Per Braves' Insider Grant McAuley on social media:

#Braves Charlie Morton entered his age-33 season with 630 career strikeouts. It was fair to wonder if he'd have the opportunity to crack 1,000, let alone get more.

Morton just recorded his 2,000th career strikeout.

He is just the 89th pitcher in MLB history to do so.

It has truly been an amazing second half of a career for Morton, who is in his 17th year overall at the big-league level. He's played with the Braves, Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia Phillies, Houston Astros, and Tampa Bay Rays. Morton helped the Astros win the 2017 World Series and helped the Braves win the 2021 Fall Classic. He also got to the World Series with the Rays in 2020.

Lifetime, he's 136-120 with a 4.02 ERA. He's got 2,000 strikeouts exactly.

The Braves and Giants will play again on Wednesday night with first pitch coming at 9:45 p.m. ET.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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